Types of Operating Systems- Explained.

Many people who want to get into the computer world wonder what is an Operating System and why the Operating System is important for a computer? Putting into simple words, the operating system(OS) can be defined as the interface between the computer user and the computer hardware. An Operating system is basically a system software that performs all the basic and essential tasks like memory management, file management, input/output management, process management, security, device management, scheduling of the tasks and any more. This type of tasks is very important to be performed for a computer system. There are various types of operating system based on their functionality and capabilities. Let’s see each type of operating system one by one. Every OS type also contains the list of operating systems that support that type.

Single and Multi-Tasking Operating Systems

A Single- Tasking operating system can perform only one task at a time. In this type of operating system, the focus remains on only one task at a time. Once that task is completed the next task is taken into accounts. Performing one task at a time will make the work faster. Multi-Tasking operating systems can perform multiple tasks at a time such as you can send emails while listening to songs or writing something is MS Word. This type of operating system works by juggling through multiple tasks as user’s preferences. and this is achieved by time-sharing, dividing the available processor time between multiple processes. There are two types of Multi-Tasking operating systems first is Preemptive Multitasking OS and other is Cooperative Multitasking OS. In Preemptive Multitasking OS, CPU time is sliced into the time slots and each time slot is allocated to each process. This way each process gets required time for its execution. Unix-like operating systems, such as Solaris, Linux, as well as AmigaOS support preemptive multitasking. In Cooperative Multitasking OS processes voluntarily relinquish the control periodically or when it is idle to maintain the simultaneous execution of operations. A process scheduler is responsible for making sure that the processes start and leave the control when they are done or idle. 16-bit versions of Microsoft Windows and Classic Mac OS used cooperative multi-tasking.

Single and Multi-User Operating Systems

Single-user operating systems don’t have the abilities to distinguish between the different users. All the users are treated as the same user and only one user can work on the system at a time. In multi-user operating systems, the system allows multiple user to work on the system. each user is distinguished by its user id, name, role and the resources allocated to that user. Nowadays almost all the operating system are multiuser OS.

Distributed Operating Systems

Distributed Operating System controls the collection of distinct fully working computer nodes acting as a single machine. In this type of operating systems, multiple computers with networking abilities are connected together to perform tasks. Each computer in the distributed network has a specific subset of applications of the global aggregate operating systems, which is shared amongst all the computers in the network. Distributed operating systems provide greater availability of the resources and it also controls the resources and the scheduling of those resources in the network.

Real-Time Operating Systems(RTOS)

Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) are used to serve the real-time applications. RTOS are also called as Embedded Systems. Real-time OS process the input as it comes without any buffer or delay. There are two types in real-time OS and those are Event driven RTOS and Timesharing RTOS. Event driven RTOS switch tasks based on their priorities. Time Sharing RTOS switch the between the tasks based on the clock interrupts. These type operating Systems are designed to be compact and efficient as there are limitations on the resources such RAM and ROM. Abassi, AltOS, AMOS, AMX RTOS these are some of the RTOS.

The type of operating system is based on the purpose and functionality of that operating system.

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Ajay Chavan

Hey guys! I am Ajay Chavan, a small town guy walking down the path to my dream. A hell-bent person who never gives up.
I love to write about stuff that makes a difference in someone's life.
And Hey! I am also the Co-Founder and COO of TeenAtHeart.